Bananas.org - Domes Again...this time PICS

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Domes Again...this time PICS

I went there Sunday & this time I remembered to take the lens off LOL.

That's them on left going west on I 94. They are about a mile south of freeway. They are HUGE. (bad pic)

Couldn't fit the 3rd dome in but look at comparison of domes & people. They are 85 ft tall & 140ft wide...THE DOMES - NOT PEOPLE :)

Anyone ever heard of 'Musa Bronze' nana? I didn't. It was about 5 ft high & nanas were no bigger than 2 inches. Sooo cute! I was tempted to pick one but I'd be in jail now LOL. Looks like there's a few missing---uh uh, not me.

To my surprise, I found a few Ae Ae's - this one was 8-9ft to 2nd highest leaf. Oh how I wanted to pull one of the 5-6 pups out & stick it in my jacket!!! LOL

This is all in the Tropical Dome. It smelled & felt so tropical, my cold went away for awhile. I even took my jacket off...(it was below zero outside). There were some cool birds flying around too but no poop on my head!
Forgot the name of the palm, but that looks like black EE in front(?).

And then I found the ICE CREAM NANA -- with a big bunch hanging on at left! Another plant at right has a flower (arrows)...(bad pic).

The IC must've been 25 ft high. The one in middle had the fruit. There is a sanguinelli orange in the background.

Then to the Arid Dome. Cactus like I've never dreamed of!

This Dragon Blood Tree fascinated me. It had berries low enough so that I could steal a few for planting seeds. I tried to steal many seeds throughout the domes but they were too high to reach.
Bunch of berries at right....what a COOL TREE! This tree is 30 yrs old & the one in pic is believed to be 1,000 yrs old. It 'bleeds' a red liquid when cut & it is believed to be a healing dragons blood. Oooh, I hope the seeds germinate!!!

...Canary Islands
"Featured on a small "island" along the walk is the splendid Dracaena draco, the Dragon Tree. It was so named because its red sap was once marketed as "dragon's blood" during medieval times. This species often grows to immense size and can be well over 1,000 years old."

It was worth going back the 2nd time. I found so many plants that I'm growing or know of. They had cocoa, a giant pumello, all kinds of fruits, palms, orchids, - just too many to mention. I didn't post any of the flower dome - I didn't want to take up too much room. They were boring in comparison.
I took over 70 pics & many didn't turn out (sorry :(). I would like some advice on a new camera to buy .. not expensive though.
It sure was a thrill to see these plants in person while I've only seen pics of them. And to think, they are only a few miles away from me in winter!
Here's a link that Gadget posted before of the Milwaukee Domes with a pic of Ice Cream banana from a few years ago.It sure looks pretty but the one now has more fingers & a bigger bunch.

Banana Tree on Flickr - Photo Sharing!